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Committee adjusts bill language to allow flexible approaches to fees on electricity and mileage‑based user fees
Summary
Draft language in H.488 was edited to replace a strict per‑kilowatt‑hour phrasing with broader references to fees on electricity dispensed, and to remove a fixed implementation date for a mileage‑based user fee to allow a phased, flexible approach.
Committee drafters reviewed language in H.488 that would authorize study or fees related to electricity consumption and a mileage‑based user fee (mBUF), and made edits to give the agency flexibility on metric and timing.
Electricity and fee language
Legislative counsel said the intent language changed from “collecting a fee on kilowatt hours” to “examining collecting a fee on electricity that is dispensed,” to avoid awkward singular/plural phrasing and to allow the statute to accommodate flat surcharges or other non‑per‑kWh mechanisms. “We changed it to electricity... This also would allow for that fee to not be on a per kilowatt hour basis, but you could also look at a flat surcharge,” the counsel said.
Mileage‑based user fee timing
Drafters also removed a specific statutory implementation date for a mileage‑based user fee, leaving the language to describe the mBUF as an interim step toward gradually expanding to all motor vehicles and preserving flexibility on timing.
Why it matters: The edits keep the bill permissive on how an electricity fee would be structured and avoid locking the state into a specific implementation schedule for the mBUF, allowing the agency and committee to study options.
